While studying at the University of Wales, I lived in Swansea – Abertawe, in Welsh. Days I would spend working in the laser laboratory, high in the sciences building, optimizing argon-ion-pumped dye lasers and preparing samples of high-temperature superconductors.

My doctoral thesis was on the laser-induced photothermal spectrometry of condensed matter.

In between re-configuring optical tables and preparing photopyroelectric film detectors, I would take in, from the vista of my lab window, the waters off the wonderful swath of coastline of the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands. And yes, write poetry.

For Swansea was no ordinary university town. It was the town where my love of science and literature first blended into the strange alchemy that has become my poetry. And here was inspiration. Here was born the poet Dylan Thomas.

I lived on Sketty Road, in a student house in an area of Swansea called the Uplands. And if I took a short walk from my flat, up to the park near Cwmdonkin Drive, I would come to the house where he had lived.

Thomas’ poetry is acknowledged to be among the greatest written of any time, and few poems are more beloved than that villanelle which has no other title than its first line, “Do not go gentle into that good night”.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

You can listen to a reading by the poet himself, at the Academy of American Poets’ site, “Poets.org”.

A villanelle is a poetic form composed of nineteen lines. These are arranged as five tercets (three-line stanzas) followed by a quatrain (four-line stanza).

There is no established meter to the villanelle – modern villanelles tend to pentameter, while early villanelles used trimeter or tetrameter.

The most striking thing about a villanelle is that it has two refrains (“A1” and “A2”) and two repeating rhymes (“a” and “b”). The first and third line of the opening tercet are repeated alternately as the refrains, until the last stanza, which includes both refrains.

With this, the pattern of the villanelle can be illustrated as as A1bA2 – abA1 – abA2 – abA1 – abA2 – abA1A2 where “a” and “b” are the two rhymes, and the upper case letters (“A1” and “A2”) indicate the refrains.

The Thomas poem illustrates this well, with the opening tercet’s first line “Do not go gentle into that good night” (“A1”) and its last line “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (“A2”) serving as the two rhymed ( “a”) refrains. The middle line “Old age should burn and rave at close of day” sets up the other rhyme (“b”).

Oscar Wilde and Edwin Arlington Robinson were among the first English practitioners of the villanelle. Early on, modern poets eschewed the villanelle because of its formality and structure.

But poets like Thomas, W. H. Auden, Theodore Roethke, Sylvia Plath and Elizabeth Bishop began composing villanelles, and brought the form to a level of popularity in the latter part of this century, that it had not previously enjoyed.

But, for me, no villanelle was ever able to touch Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go gentle”, written as he had watched his aging father, formerly in the Army, grow frail and weak – and as Thomas had attempted to convince his father to rage, to fight against the death that drew near. For me, this poem is Thomas’ masterpiece.

In Swansea, in the shadow of Dylan Thomas’ legacy, inspired by where he had lived, where he had worked, what he had written, I tried to write villanelles. In vain. Every draft I ever wrote in Swansea was committed to flame.

Years later, in Canada, I was again surrounded by the accoutrements of high technology – monolithic optoelectronic semiconductor chip fabrication labs, robots that traversed nuclear reactors to extract radioactive debris. And finally, like electrons settling in their orbitals, it all came together.

Years later, after having written hundreds of other poems, thousands of other lines, I finally found the right refrains, the right theme, the right voice, in the villanelle “War”.

Why do we keep on marching out to war?
If every fiber in us cries for peace,
Someone tell me what are we fighting for?

“War” is one of the centerpiece poems of my Kindle book ”War and Ablution” – and with that piece, the villanelle “War”, I could finally look towards Swansea, towards Cwmdonkin Park, and whisper “Thank you.”

Thank you Sam. Our challenge today is to write a villanelle. I look forward to reading your poems.

If you are new, here’s how to participate:

Write a poem using the villanelle format.

Link the poem on your blog by copying its name from your address line.

Click on Mr. Linky which will open a Blenza page; fill in your name and
paste the link to your poem.

46 thoughts on “The Art of Villanelle”

Ugh, Grace….after all the trouble I had a few days ago I couldn’t bear to try this yet again so soon…but am joining in out of eagerness to read the other villanelle’s so am just linking to my second attempt. Thank you for helping me with this onerous form 🙂 Appreciate it!!

Hi Grace, few days back when I heard the poem first time, while watching Interstellar – Now it feels good to know more about it. Thanks. I don’t know if I will be able to write one – but is a good learning.

45 minutes into the prompt, & those in the perky pack of dVerse poetry dogs are a bit slow to rise to the inspired challenge. Grace has done a masterful job illustrating one way to write a Villanelle, thrice-layered, inspired by Sam, who was himself inspired by Dylan Thomas, & Grace took two lines from Pablo Neruda, wrote her tercets in haiku, & rocked the form. Often we have poets in our peer group who write a Villanelle as their chosen form to respond to a Poetics prompt, & I always enjoy that second only to the sonnet form, villanelles appear out on the trail like bluebells in Spring along Texas highways. I admit to having to struggle with classic forms, especially with syllable count, foot, & meter–but I jump into the MTB/FFA prompts eagerly, endeavoring to meet the required parameters, & enrich my own poetic voice.

Good of you to join in Glenn ~ Some of the D’verse team are taking their vacations but its business as usual at the pub 🙂

When this was first posted, I couldn’t write a villanelle nor any poetry form ~ It takes takes time and discipline to follow the pattern but with the help of rhyming dictionary, I am able to make them fit somehow ~

Hello and looking forward to see your villanelles. It’s one of my favourite poetry forms – I just believe it’s so melodious, almost hypnotic. I’ve never attempted one before, but for you, Grace, I will post one tomorrow morning (my time).

Looking forward to it Marina ~ I must admit it was difficult to write to form as it took me hours to finish it ~ But I find that once I have my rhyming patten and end words, like a crossword puzzle, I find it fun to complete ~

Love the villanelle form! I decided today to do NaPoWriMo this month, and wasn’t planning on tackling something as challenging as a villanelle, but I did it. I’ll be back later when others have linked to theirs. Peace, Linda

Thank you Samuel for your words of inspiration. And Grace thank you for offering your prompt to challenge our growth. I’m not very brave. So I can’t promise I’ll write something, but please know I do appreciate the exposure to forms that facilitate the expression of beauty. Really, thank you so much Grace.

Welcome Myrna ~ Good of you to drop by and read the post ~ If you like crossword puzzle, you will find that writing to form is pretty much like that ~ Hey, it took me years to write to form, only recently too 🙂

After reading Grace’s villanelle, I am scared to even attempt this. I said truthfully and respectfully, it was the most beautiful poem I had read. I so love cherry blossoms (wouldn’t guess that, would you? 🙂 ) I will try but….just don’t know. So far, what I have read has been excellent! A most challenging prompt but a great way to learn a new form and stretch one’s art.

When this was originally posted 2 years ago, I didn’t know how to write to form ~ Gay held my hand and told me its like a crossword puzzle, which I like very much ~ With this form, I normally start with my refraining lines and put the end rhyming words at each line ~ Once you start with the pattern (with the help of the rhyming dictionary & B slant rhyming dictionary), you can write a story or make sense of the words ~ It’s fun and don’t be intimidated by poetry forms ~ I have to tell you though it took me time to put it all together ~ Well this prompt is open for the next 2 days so take your time ~ Thanks for your support 🙂

Grace, I corrected the villanelle and hope it is improved. Because I was rushing, I likely will tweak the wording some more, but I wanted to get the correct number of tercets up as soon as possible. It feels rough, needs more work. Thanks so much for the help. Glenn helped too. I so appreciate it.

Sleep is calling me now, ha ~ I will be checking in for the next two days to comment and visit your poem ~ If you are brave(r) enough, you can write another villanelle as there is no limit on the no. of poems you can post in this form ~ Good night 🙂

A very challenging theme. I have struggled with this form in the past, but did manage to write a villanelle to my wife a couple of years ago. Hope fellow poets will appreciate why I have linked it again. Thanks to Samuel for his excellent article on this beautiful verse form.

I love this challenge, Grace! I hope to perfect it in time..it is really quite simple..just making it sound like Dylan Thomas wrote it is what is difficult 😉 Will make my rounds after dinner..thank you..